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A study of a city's schoolchildren found that those who eat breakfast at home score higher in a reading test than those who do not, and a newspaper concluded that eating breakfast improves a child's reading ability. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the newspaper's conclusion?

Competition practiceLogical / Critical
  • ABreakfast supplies energy that helps a child concentrate through the morning
  • BSome children eat their breakfast on the way to school rather than at home
  • CChildren who eat breakfast at home are far more likely to come from households where an adult is at home in the morning and reads with them
  • DThe reading test was taken in the afternoon, several hours after breakfast

Step-by-Step Solution

If the same household circumstance produces both the breakfast and the reading practice, the two show up together without either causing the other, and the reading scores are explained without any effect of breakfast at all. The first option supports the conclusion rather than weakening it; the second merely blurs the two groups; and the fourth is a mild objection that leaves the association itself unexplained.
Answer: C) Children who eat breakfast at home are far more likely to come from households where an adult is at home in the morning and reads with them

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